There are many situations in which the use of the conventional bit-type bridle can be highly disadvantageous. Many horses tend to chew the bit, develop sores within their mouths, balk at the bit so that excessive pressure must be applied in order to obtain control, salivate excessively when the bit is in their mouth, or, in untrained and unbroken horses, misbehave and rear their heads so that the bit cannot be placed into their mouths. It is also known that a bit in a horse's mouth can cause cutting of the tongue, chipping of the teeth, bruising of the mouth, etc.
For at least these reasons the hackamore-type bridle is often used to break horses or is used on horses that have mouth problems that limit use of a bit. Hackamore bridles generally have rigid sidepieces wherein applying pressure to the reins will result in a pivoting action. The sidepieces are usually constructed such that an actual pivoting around a pivotal point takes place. These forces are used to train or direct a horse to act or move in a particular manner or direction. These bridles can be disadvantageous in that they generally apply pressure only to the nose and/or under the chin of the horse when there are other areas which are as sensitive and which also can aid in the control of the horse's actions.
One of the more effective bitless hackamore-type bridles developed to date is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,033 (hereinafter referred to as the '033 bridle”), to the present inventor. The '033 bridle has sidepieces whereby pressure upon the reins is transmitted by the sidepieces to multiple points on the horses head. The sidepieces of the '033 bridle operate by pivotal means that do not require moving parts and which will, when pressure is applied to the reins, manually exert pressure to the horse at the top of the head behind the horse's ears, over the front of the horse's nose, under the chin and inwardly on the sides of the jaw of the horse.
Despite the popularity of the '033 bridle, it has been found that it can be problematic in a number of manners. In general, the reins used with the '033 bridle are connected at the lowermost point of each sidepiece, near the mouth of the horse. Thus, a great deal of leverage can be applied through each of the sidepieces of the '033 bridle with a pull on the reins. While a large amount of leverage may be desirable in some applications, such as with a very unruly horse, more well-trained horses often require less force applied to the face or head of the horse to achieve desired results.